Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Oh No. Never. By No Means...

Oh No. Never. By No Means…

Has anyone ever said something like that to you, or something similar?

That is exactly what Abraham told his servant. The servant questioned Abraham about taking Isaac back to his homeland, if the woman chosen for Isaac did not want to travel to where Abraham had settled…where God had settled him.

“Oh no. Never. By no means are you to take my son back there. God, the God of heaven, took me from the home of my father and from the country of my birth and spoke to me in solemn promise, ‘I’m giving this land to your descendants.’ This God will send his angel ahead of you to get a wife for my son…” Genesis 24:6-8 The Message

God will give us dreams and visions. He will plant a seed in our heart.

We know He is calling us to a certain task, but when we get in God’s way we begin to ask questions like the servant, ie. “Maybe this isn’t exactly what God wanted me to do.” “What if I begin and nothing happens or people won’t get on board?” “It is more difficult than I thought, I think I’ll stop and go back to where I’m comfortable.”

Those are not thoughts that we should allow to stay in our mind. We need to take those thoughts captive. 2 Cor. 10:5 says, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”NIV

Fear is not of Christ…so take that thought captive.

Uncertainty is not of Christ…so take that thought captive.

Confusion is not of Christ…so take that thought captive.

Worry and anxiety is not of Christ…so take that thought captive.

Those thoughts are not of Christ, so take them captive, making them obedient to Christ. God has called you to move forward in the gifting and calling He has placed before you.

His plan may be for you to be a stay at home mom at this point in your life. Your children are more important right now. Sure, do ministry, but not at the expense of your children.

His plan may be for you to go back to school, or teach, or preach, or co-pastor, or be an associate pastor and your spouse not be in active ministry; God may desire you to sit at His feet as Mary for this time in your life.

Whatever it is He is calling you to do always MOVE FORWARD, DO NOT TURN BACK. He will be the great I Am to you…whatever you need Him to be He will be. Take Abraham’s advice, don’t go back. The God who gave the promise or call in your life will go ahead of you. He is going to prepare the way because He has called you.